Method of conducting combustion.



H. L. DOHERTY. METHOD OF CONDUCTING COMBUSTION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.10,1911.

2 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

191140 A; c .s 14 L} I; vwe wfoz 11 1 1 228 Patented June 30, 19M.

H. L. DOHERTY. METHOD OF CONDUCTING COMBUSTION. APPLICATION TILED JAN. 10, 1911. 1 1@1 ?8 Patented June 30, 1914 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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, chec (er-work in the secondary combustion To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, HENRY lL. DOHERTY, citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county of New jYork and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Conducting Combustion, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to methods of conducting combustion and, in particular, to a method of conducting the combustion of heavy liquid hydrocarbons, such as fuel oils, coal-tar, etc.

The object of my invention is to provide a method or burning such fuel substances to j produce a long, comparatively smokeless flame of n oderate temperature.

To this end myinvention consists, briefly stated, in first atomizing the hydrocarbon oil by a jet of steam'; secondly, in gasifying the atomized oil by subjecting the same to partial combustion in a primary combus= tion chamber. with a limited supply of air in the presence of the steam used in atomizing oil, whereby the oil gas proper is diluted with the products of the partial combustion of the oil which comprises chiefly the gasified oil, and the gases from the part al combustion in a secondary combustion 1 chamber, or kiln shaft as preferred, b,y a m xed draft current of air and combustion flame.

shown diagrammatically 'a form of appara- 1 tus for carr ing out my invention as applied to the burn ng of limestone. 1 The drawings show a limekiln' of the ordinary type de- Figure 1 is a partial, vertical, diametral,

cross-section through the kiln and furnace thereof. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic elevation of the apparatus. I p I l is the kiln shaft,'2'is the primary combustion or gasifying. amber, -'3 the secondthe checker-work of highly refractory firebrick in the asihamber, while 5 is" a correspon ing chamber. The arran ement of the combus: ti'on' chambers and c ecker is simply dia grammatic but suflicient. for the purpose of illustrating this specification.

HENRY a. DQHERTY, or New roan, t. Y.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

CU, N, and steam; and thirdly, in burning gas, so as to produce a long, slow burning 'P Tn the accompanying drawing T have signed to burn solid fuel with the alterations necessary to fit it for using my inven-. tion. i

r onion.

METHOD OF CONDUCTING COMBUSTION.

llatented June 30 itlbill.

Application filed January 10, 1911. Serial No. 601,794.

6 is an atomizing or spraying nozzle of any approved pattern.

7 is the oil supply passage (as shown, as ordinary pipe), 8 the steam conduit or pipe and 10 the connection connecting 7 and 8 with the nozzle 6.

i1 is the conduit or pipe through which the mixture of air and carbon dioXid gas (in this case air and kiln-gas) is forced to sustain the secondary combustion.-

12 is a valve on conduit 11.

' i3 and 14, are valves on conduits 7 and 8,

respectively.

16 isthe grate iron plates, 17 and apart so as to of the iurnucehaving two leave a clear opening, 19, extending across the grate between the checkers 4: and 5. A. layer of sand, fire clay, or other retractory material, is spread on the plates 17 and 18 to protect them from the heat of the combustion chambers.

20 is what, in the ordinary furnace for firing with solid fuel, would be the ash-plt.

21 is a dampered air inlet.

22 is a steam boiler for supplying the steam used in the atomizing of the hydrocarbon.

23 is a tank for storing the oil used.

24 is a blower for supplying the mixed air and kiln-gas to the combustion chamber, while 25 is an air damper on the suction pipe 26 of the blower for regulating the proortion of air in the draft current.

The method of operating the apparatus shown. isfas follows: On starting operations steam is turned on from the pipe 8 and oil (or other hydrocarbon) from the pipe 7. In passing through the nozzle 6 the hydrocarbon is very finely subdivided so that it forms a mist disseminated through the body of the steam. The action of the steam jet induces a draft of air through the dampered air inlet 21, By means of hot coals, an incandescent metal rod, or in any other way the mixture of oil, steam and air is ignited at the nozzle 6.

sufficiently to permit of the entrance of suflicient air to insure complete combustion of the 'oil.' When, however, the furnace 18, laid thereon but spaced- At this stage of operations, the damper 21 may be opened] which enters the primary combustion chamher 2, I will designate the primany current, while the draft current entering through the pipe 11 I will call the second ary current, the air included in the two currents being designated, respectively, the primary and secondary air. When the apparatus has been brought up to normal operating conditions. the volume of primary air will have been reduced to that volume .required in the preliminary gasification of the oil in chamber 2. The volume of steam introduced depends entirely upon the temperature existing in chamber 2. I aim to first adjust the air supply to the proper volume and then regulate the steam valve until the temperature of the primary checker is at the proper point. 7 This latter point can be determined closely by the eye, the aim being to keep the checker at a good golden yellow heat-say about 20002200 F. Should the temperature exceed this, I increase the proportion of steam, while should it fall below I diminish the steam supply. While the proportion of air which I use in the primary combustion may-be varied considerably, I may state that I aim to form as little CO in the primary combustion as possible. Under the conditions stated, I find that the primary combustion may be so conducted that the gases passing through the checker 4 will not contain more than say 5% of CO Working in this way I find it possible to completely gasify the oil in 2 so as to produce a large proportion of permanent gases which so dilute the undecomposed hydrocarbons remaining that in the second stage of combustion I am able to effect the combustion of the gas with the production of little orno smoke. The quantity of secondary air should be adjusted so as to supply a considerable excess' of oxygen over that which is theoretically required for the combustion of the gases entering the chamber 3'from the primary checker-work. This excess of oxygen would, if admitted alone, produce a short intense flame'with destructive results to the brick-work of the furnace. To overcome this, I mix with the air sufiicient carbond oxld-contammg gases, (gases from the k1ln itself, in this embodiment of my invention,) to so dilute the oxygen of thesecondary an as to materially reduce the speed of reaction. In fact, I- find that the flame may be prolonged into the shaft of the kiln itself. The exact proportion of combustion or kiln gases that will be required in the secondary combustion to produce this effect will depend upon the character of the gas mixture leavin checkerwork. This, in turn, the nature'of the oil-used, in the first place, and upon theadjustment of the air and steam, in the second place. Usually the the primary epends upon proportion of kiln gas in the secondary draft current will 'befrom 15 to 50%, by volume, of the total volume of the draft cur-- rent, the remainder being air.

By conductingthe combustion of heavy oils according to my invention in the manner described above, I am able to burn such oils without more than the ordlnary wear and tear on the furnaces such as would be caused by the burning of ordinary coals. Also, I am enabled to use such oils as fuel in cases where moderate temperatures, only, are permissible, and where it has heretofore been found impracticable to use 011 as fuel.

Another important advantage of my invention is that I am enabled to secure a Having described my invention, what I,

claim is:

1. The process of burning lrquld hydrocarbons which comprises, sub ecting sald liquid hydrocarbons to partial combustion by a limited proportion of air to incompletely burn a portion of said hydrocarbon andto gasify the remainder of said hydrocarbon to form a gaseous mixture. of incompletely burned but gasified products, adding to the said gaseous mixture an excess of air mixed with a diluent comprising products of completely burned hydrocarbons, and conducting the resulting gaseous mixture into contact with refractory material at a temperature above the ignition temperature of said mixture, whereby the constituents of said gaseous mixture are completely burned with the formation of a flame of comparatively large volume but of moderate temperature. I

2. The process of burning liquid hydrocarbons in the flame treatment of materials which comprises, .atomizing said liquid hydrocarbons, gasifying the atomized hydrocarbons, subjecting the resulting gases to combustion with a draft current containing between 80 to 50 per cent. by volume of effluent gases from the treatment of said materials, and conducting the draft current while said in treating relationship with said materials.

3. The process of burning liquid hydrocarbons which comprises atomizing the said liquid hydrocarbons by means of a jet of steam, mixing with the atomized hydrocarbon and steam a limited quantity of primary air, the proportion of the said primary gases are undergoing combustion memes air being restricted to that which will effect the partial combustion of the said liquid hydrocarbon with the production of the minimum quantity of carbon dioxid, ex-

osin the resultin mixture to a tem era P 1-, a

to insure combustion of free oxygen of the mixture with constituents of the said hydrocarbon liquid, whereby the said hydrocarbon is subjected to a primary combustion and gasified, mixing with the gases from the said ture sufficient primary combustion a draft current comprising air and gases of complete combustion and subjecting the said mixture to a temperature suflicient to insure combustion, the proportion of gases of complete combustion in the said mixture constituting at least 30 per cent. of the mixture by volume, whereby a long, slow-burning, flame of moderate temperature is produced.

4. The process of burning liquid hydrocarbons in the flame treatment of materials which comprises, atomizing the said hydrocarbons with a jet of steam, mixing a limited quantity of air with the atomized hydrocarbons and steam and subjecting the said mixture to a temperature sufficient to insure ignition, whereby the said hydrocarbons are subjected to a primary incomplete combustion, the proportion of steam used in the atomization of the said hydrocarbons being that required to restrict the temperature of the said primary combustion to the de sired degree, mixing with the hot gases from the said primary combustion an excess of airdiluted with a portion of the efliuent gases from the treatment of said materials, and conducting the, resulting gaseous mixture while in process of combustion into contact with said materials, whereby the said materials are subjected to a long slowburnmg voluminous, hydrocarbon flame, of moderate temperature.

5. The process of burning liquid hydrocarbons in the calcination of: carbonated materials which comprises, subjecting said liquid hydrocarbons to a partial combustion by a limited proportion of .air to incompletely burn a portion of said hydrocarbon and to gasify the remainder of said hydrocarbon to form a gaseous mixture of incompletely burned but gasified products, adding to the said gaseous mixture an excess of air mixed with efiluent gases from the ca1cination of said carbonated materials, and conducting the into contact with the said materials in process of calcination, whereby the said liquid hydrocarbons are burned with a voluminous flame of moderate temperature.

6. The process of burning liquid hydrocarbons in the calciuation of carbon-dioxid-evolving materials which comprises, atomizing the said hydrocarbons by a steam jet mixing with the atomized hydrocarbons and steam aregulated volume of air, subjecting the said mixture to a temperature sufficient to insure ignition to maintain an incomplete primary combustion of a portion of said hydrocarbons and to gasify the unburned hydrocarbon, the volume of the said admixed air being restricted to that volume required to generate heat for the said gasification of said hydrocarbon, mixing with the hot gases from said primary combustion an excess of air diluted with a portion of the eiiiuent carbon-dioxid containing gases from the calcination of said materials to institute combustion of said gases from said primary combustion, and conducting the so-formed voluminous, slowburning flame into calcining relationship with said materials.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New York this 9th day of January A. D. 1911.

HENRY L. DOHERTY. Witnesses:

Tires. 1. CARTE W. J. QUENTIN.

resulting gaseous mixture 

